Category: Uncategorized
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Today after going to a farmer’s market in a botanical garden, we stopped at an old school ice cream parlor for scoops of cookies n’ creme and coffee with rainbow sprinkles. The shop had black and white checkered linoleum flooring, silver shiny tables, and red and white striped decor. Collages of tiny photos of patrons…
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Dear anxiety, sometimes you trick me make me think you’ve got the best of me make me paralyzed and dizzy with fear of what you’ll take next from me. But anxiety, I’ve got tricks up my sleeve, too. I’ve got words and breaths and movements that will help me shake free of you. And anxiety,…
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When I lived in Spain and started to really become fluent in Spanish, I loved learning the augmentative forms of words. I knew about the diminutives (perrito, cajita). But the augmentative — intensifying, indicating greatness in size, exaggerating — was new to me. Ojos súper bonitos became ojazos. Muy cansada was cansadete. Today I feel…
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For today’s slice (day 9! wow!), an excerpt from my writer’s notebook entry yesterday. *** The sun dapples differently in the morning, the humidity still thick. The brown vines hang and sway from the branches of the trees, almost like they’re dancing in the wind. I can hear birds chirping and roosters clucking. Car engines…
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This morning, I told the students to gather quickly with their writer’s notebooks and a pen or pencil, because we were taking our workshop outside to the park. “No way!” They shouted. “Yessss!” We headed downstairs and out to the park that faces our school, congregating around one of the picnic tables so I could…
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Yesterday, I forced myself out of the apartment for an evening stroll. I walked past the construction of the new bridge and highway towards Maurice A. Ferré Park, taking in the greenery. I made my way towards the Perez Art Museum and climbed up to their back deck, overlooking Biscayne Bay. There, I saw a…
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As a teacher, I don’t like to take days off from work. Whether it’s for self care or a true sick day (like today), the thought of not coming in and showing up for your kids makes you feel even more ill. Because teachers can’t just take a day when they’re not feeling well. We…
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I lived in Madrid for two years in my early twenties, working four days a week at an elementary school as an English language and culture assistant. That first year, I rented a room in an apartment with 5 other girls that became known to us as “el piso paraíso.” The other girls were there…
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At recess on Thursday, one of my students was lingering by the jungle gym where I sat looking out at the group of boys playing soccer. “So, _,” I asked, “what do you plan to do over your long weekend?” He grabbed onto the bars above him and swayed a bit as he replied. “Play…
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A veces, no me gusta vivir en Miami. La humedad molesta, tener que manejar a todos lados es pesadísimo, y ser residente de la Florida puede ser… complicado. Pero una tarde como hoy, después de un día agotador, pasando el atardecer con amigas en el jacuzzi de una de ellas, pienso: “Esto sí me gusta.…
